Tajik officials have announced that a Tajik resident of Canada, Aleksandr Sodikov, is being held in Dushanbe on charges of high treason and spying.

The State National Security Committee said June 20 that Sodikov is in temporary detention and that he has a lawyer and his family has been notified.

The announcement comes after international right organizations expressed concern over Sodikov's whereabouts after he was detained by security authorities in the city of Khorugh on June 16.

He was detained shortly after speaking with civil society activists, including Alim Sherzamonov, who was one of the leaders of deadly May protests against police actions that targeted suspected criminals in Khorugh.

Sodikov, a Tajik national, has said he was touring Central Asia as part of his doctoral research at the University of Toronto and the University of Exeter in Britain.